Share this:

FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM)- Issue 7 supporters rallied outside of the Washington County Courthouse hoping to raise awareness about the Arkansas Supreme Court decision to disqualify the medical marijuana measure, which supporters said undermines their voting rights.

"Arkansas is supposed to be a compassionate state and Arkansas is supposed to be a fair state," supporter, Corey Hunt said. "But, I'll tell you, what's happening here is not fair."

The rally was organized by Arkansans for Compassionate Care.

"People feel it's unjust and that their voters are being robbed, and democracy is being undermined," campaign director, Abel Tomlinson said. "Many people would've voted differently if they'd of known we were going to be kicked off. 150,000 people have already voted in early voting. Now, they're votes don't count. This is wrong."

Issue 7 supporter said although they are frustrated, they are hoping to turn this into something positive.

"A lot of [supporters] have cancer or epilepsy or some disease has touched their lives and they know that cannabis has worked for treatment," supporter, Don Wicker said. "We want that option to have that as natural medicine rather than all these pharmaceuticals that people are getting addicted to and that are killing them."

Some supporters said they went in to vote and came out to the news of the disqualification of the issue.

"I went from anger to tears within an hour," Wicker said. "I early voted on Monday and I went back in on Thursday and I came back out and one of the politicians told me that he had seen it on the news."

Many early voters said they voted no on Issue 6, which is the other medical marijuana measure, and yes on Issue 7 before the court made its ruling.

Representative from Arkansans for Compassionate Care plan to have their lawyer contact the Arkansas Supreme Court about the issue being disqualified and will take legal action if necessary.

Issue 6 is still on the ballot, but supporters encourage Arkansans to continue voting for Issue 7 as they wait to see if the Supreme Court will overturn its decision.

Suggest A Correction

Share this:

1 Comment

lurker48

Kara Benca and her husband, Patrick, are partners at Benca & Benca. Kara Benca is listed as the petitioner on the lawsuit that challenged the signatures collected to get Issue 7 on the ballot. The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in her favor Thursday agreeing that some of the canvassers working for Arkansans for Compassionate Care did not meet state guidelines.